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Shana Fisher

Managing partner, High Line Venture Partners

Known for being able to spot winning companies when others barely know they exist, Shana Fisher is a publicity-shy angel investor who put money early into standouts such as Pinterest, MakerBot and Refinery29. Where she will be putting money this year is anyone's guess—but her picks may prove to be some of New York's next big winners. One favorite sector for Ms. Fisher has been fashion. Other recent picks have been in crowdfunding and social media.

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures founder Charlie O'Donnell called her his "VC hero," and A-list venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, whose board she recently joined, described her as combining "the street smarts of how to build companies with the book smarts of how to invest in them."

After a stint at Microsoft, Ms. Fisher, who is in her early 40s, joined Allen & Co. and later headed mergers and acquisitions at IAC. Three years ago, she started High Line to invest in early-stage companies. She told Andreessen Horowitz's Ben Horowitz last year that she tries "to understand what great entrepreneurs have in them, and I look for the ones who have it, and then I do what I can to help them realize their greatness."